Dog Walker
‘It’s
just suicidal for your career. It’s stupid, it’s mindless, and it’s idiotic. You’re
wrecking yourself! You’re acting like a total maniac. You’ll end up screwing your
life.’
My friend
(the boy) was getting an earful from my other friend. ‘Don’t worry…’ I paused, taking
care not to let the sandwich fall off my mouth, ‘…all of what he said may
happen except for what he said in the end’, I said coolly to the boy. ‘Thank
you for your one line opinion in this two hour conversation. And thanks for
making my half munched sandwich disappear too!’ the advisor friend lamented me.
Well I had to admit, the guys at these coffee shop served the best corn
sandwiches with mayonnaise graciously melted in between the layers. Besides, I wasn’t
paying attention to their talk.
Apparently
the boy, who was working in a reputed bank in the marketing division, had made
up his mind to quit the job. You must be wondering why the advisor friend
called this move as ‘suicidal, mindless, wrecking, maniacal decision’. Well,
the boy wanted to advance his career of course; by applying to the post of a
dog walker.
‘Well
the money’s good, and I want to try something different too!’ explained the
boy. Although there was no point for him to falsify the real reason before us;
he kept on saying this as his reason to quit the desk job. Let me explain you
the real motive in a few sentences. The boy’s office was in a plush business
park cum residential complex. The advisor friend lived with the boy in a rented
apartment outside the complex. The advisor friend’s distant cousin lived in one
of the residential buildings. One fine evening, the two left the office and
took the regular walk towards the bus stop outside the complex. On the way,
they happened to see the advisor friend’s cousin, so they stopped by for a
chat. The boy obviously had nothing to participate in this chat, but it here
where he sees this girl…who is pretty, attractive, whatever you’d like to call.
Now the boy gets the information from the advisor friend, who gets this
information from his distant cousin that the pretty girl happens to stay in his
building. And in a measure to get close to her, the boy gets this information
from his advisor friend, who in turn gets this information from his distant
cousin, who then gets this important piece of information from the security
guard of his building, that a position for a dog caretaker has been just
vacated and someone is urgently needed to fill in this post; for which our
hero, the boy, is vying for. Whew! Now never ever ask me to explain anything in
few sentences!
The girl.
Light fawn in colour. Her hair was delicate, colour burgundy. She made herself
quick pony, still hair strands or two fell and touched her forehead. Her shapely
eyebrows looked like vertically mirrored tick marks; ones which your class
teacher used to give on your test papers. Her eyelashes were similar in shape
like the rooftops of temples in China. Her skin was flawless. Her lips were chiseled
and it looked like she might have been born with a permanent apple shaded lip
gloss applied. She wore a dark emerald top and her delicate arms looked
prominent. She folded her slim, shapely legs, on top over the other. Suddenly she
unfolded them and brought them close to each other. Probably some interesting
joke or a message on WhatzApp made her do this.
Her mom
was on her right. Her young brother looked shabby and was occupied with his
PlayStation portable. And her dad’s pea sized mole, struck directly in between
his chin was quite disturbing, as the boy was trying to pay attention to him;
on his ongoing interview.
And so
began the endeavor, the quest, to come closer to his love. During the interview
she glanced at him once! He was happy at the progress. And he got the job too! The
pay wasn’t bad either. He had to visit three times a day and had to take care
of a friendly Labrador and an ugly looking Pug. He had to do all of the
conditions and the duties that her dad yelled at him. That was easy!
The
first morning, the dogs refused to eat, as they were not accustomed to the boy.
The opportunist boy, got to speak with the girl on what can be done to convince
the dogs, to which she plainly replied that she loves her dogs a lot, but doesn’t
meddle herself in their caring. Other day, the boy got introduced to the girl’s
shabby brother, when the boy had to wear shabby’s denim shorts. Well in an
untoward incident, while bathing the dogs, the boy accidently touched those
areas where angels fear to tread and got himself a scar on his face, and an
attack on his left buttock, resulting in torn pants. ‘Keep them for yourself
and don’t dare to return them’, the shabby brother said, resulting in
additional humiliation and awkwardness the boy had to face when he had to go
home wearing those tight denim shorts.
Things were
getting a bit easier with the dogs as the days went by. The boy’s back problems
aggravated as the Labrador weight pulled his spine with a force. The girl’s
mother otherwise loathing him, this time showed her kindness by giving him an
allowance, to go and visit a doctor, with the condition of not taking a leave.
And on
that day, the girl finally spoke to him, herself.
‘I see
your back pains have worsened,’ said the girl, not looking at the boy. She was
multitasking; doing something on her iPhone. ‘Too bad for a guy with a desk job
experience!’ she taunted. The boy sprang up. He had faked his resume (verbal) and
had never mentioned a desk job or his previous work. ‘You may have deleted all
your social networking profiles, but you forgot your LinkedInn profile!’ she said
with a slight smile. The boy closed his eyes with despair, but kept cool. He jogged
through the thoughts of how this gaffe might have happened; but the girl was
way too fast for him.
‘Look,’
said the girl, this time looking at him directly. In this tension, the boy
noticed the colour of her eyes. They were deep dark brown, like the chocolate
fantasy they’d serve at the coffee shop. ‘I am aware of your intentions,’ she
said, looking down, her lips pressed. ‘You seem to be a nice guy, but this is
not going to go anywhere,’ she said, leaving the conversation dangling and left
abruptly. The boy simply smiled. Then he took the dogs out for their evening
walk, bearing the two pains he had; spinal and the heart break.
‘Come on
laddie…want a kick on your butt? Out you go!’ said a stern, loud voice.
The boy
came out, in the light. I was standing next to the advisor friend, as we looked
at the boy. His face looked dry. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled.
‘Feels great…,’ he said, looking at us, ‘Let’s go! Why are we standing here?’
We were
in the coffee shop. The boy that day after the brief conversation with the girl
had taken the dogs for their walk. An incident had let the leash get out of his
hands, which triggered the dogs to run and get away, not to be found. The girl’s
dad had got him jailed for 1 month and a certain amount of fine for the loss; one
of terms of agreement he had stated when he accepted the job.
‘So, what’s
next?’ I asked him, my subconscious chose asking the question over the temptation
of the corn mayonnaise sandwich in front of me.
‘Down,
but not out. I’ve just started!’ he smiled. There was a sparkle in his eyes and
I had never seen such a wide smile on his face, until now.
Mangesh
Nadkarni
28-09-2014
